A Promise Is A Promise
by Koakuma Tsuri
Summary: Kei made a promise to Sho, but seeing him like this is breaking him in two. What can he possibly do to save the one he loves? Kei/Sho. Yaoi. Post-film.


Moonchild is a Japanese film: therefore, I'm including a couple Japanese phrases because I can 8D  
Oh yeah… SPOILERS FOR THE FILM GALORE! If you haven't seen it..  
Disclaimer - Characters not mine.

Chaos' quick and easy nihongo:  
**Oyasumi** – Goodnight. **Konbanwa** – Good evening. **Hisashiburi da ne?** – It's been a while, hasn't it? **Genki desu?** (genki desu ka?) – How are you? **Chotto matte** – Wait a moment. **Todomaru… **– Stay (remain).

* * *

A Promise Is A Promise.

"Oyasumi." The black haired girl smiled, dark eyes twinkling in the lamp light cast over the bed.

He chuckled, leaning over once more to ruffle her long black hair. "Oyasumi,"

She was getting too old to be treated like this now… and strangely, he would miss tucking another child in for the night, making sure they were safe and comfortable whilst he went out to feed.

Kei watched the child as she drifted off, admiring how she looked so much like her father when he was this age and lost in slumber. The pretty face contorted into a frown, a manifestation of the subconscious, which was still hurt – scarred – by the loss of both her father, then her mother and then everyone else she knew. And all that remained was him. Of course, Hana hadn't known Kei for all that long before her father's death, but she had always heard such pleasant things about him through fabulous anecdotes about dangerous encounters that Sho and Kei had been in when younger. And the trust she put in Kei immediately when he returned home alone told him that she knew what he was; there was no fear in her, just like Sho.

Switching the lamp off, Kei soundlessly retraced his steps back to the door, exiting and shutting it equally as silently.

The cream-washed walls of the corridor were doused in shadows. Little illumination was needed when the same path was trodden every night for near six years now. Lying to the girl he promised to take care of for six years… Breaking her heart having to tell her that her father had been killed by the uncle she never knew she had and then having to explain to her why her mother wasn't going to wake up again, and that she was to stay at the hospital so that they made sure she could come to no harm.

He felt so guilty… so unbelievably guilty for all that he had done. There was no rage, however, directed at the one who had pushed this upon him - well, if Kei was completely honest to himself, there was. Irritated and disappointed that he just couldn't accept what he had become and move on with his life like everyone else. Kei didn't just give up when Luka ended his life, though he had come close to many times… but he… but he still had everything. Maybe Kei was just flattering himself, thinking he would be enough for Sho. Those days, that dream, had died long ago. He sighed, leaning back against the wall.

He missed the childish laughter and the smiles that accompanied; watching other the boy like a hawk, regardless of his older brother's resentment of him. He missed that time when Sho had come to him, confused and hormonal… the sweet, comforting kisses they shared since then, and all the others. It wasn't the same now… Nothing could be the same.

With another sigh, he turned back down the corridor, extinguishing the final light and entering what had become his room.

Inside, it was dark and cold. The window was open, curtains fluttering in the breeze; lights from the city glistened outside. Most of all, the room stank of blood. Sour, stale blood laced with cigarette smoke and alcohol. Whoever was once made of this stuff was unsavoury… disgusting… the exact same thing he had been forced to feed on for decades. It left a taste on his tongue from just breathing it in, so bitter he nearly gagged, reaching on to flick the light switch, though the second he did he wanted darkness once more.

Sprawled out on the bed, painted red with clothes torn to shreds, with eyes so clear and blue and cold they were nothing but ice, was the only person Kei could truthfully say he loved. But… at the same time it wasn't. This was the _creature_ created from his biggest, most regretted mistake.

The mistake of making Sho immortal.

Kei had loved Yi-Che too much to condemn her, but he loved Sho too much to let him die, whatever the cost. In a moment of selfishness, Kei had created a monster.

"Konbanwa." Sho didn't raise his eyes to the greeting, or acknowledge Kei in any other way. He just stared up at the ceiling with those cruel eyes. Blood lusting eyes.

With a sound of disgust, the older man ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair. Surely that need was already sated? Was the scarlet that stained both Sho's clothes and now the bed sheets still not enough? It broke Kei to pieces to see his friend lose his mind this way when he returned home – those few nights he did, for fear of Hana discovering him. In this state, Kei understood just why Sho was completely distraught with his new being.

A few minutes of company, and Sho usually snapped back to his usual state… well, darker, angrier and less playful than he ever was. He didn't crack jokes anymore, only sat and spoke like a philosopher. Kei never complained. To see this side of Sho meant he was here – his home – and that was enough.

"Konbanwa." Kei returned the gesture and turned the light off once more, working by the city lights outside to get to the bedside, where he turned that light on instead. It was dull and orange, reminding him of the monotonous and unobtainable sunrise, and made the red of Sho's skin and clothes a darker brown, like mud, if Kei could block out the metallic scent that made him thirst out of instinct.

One more day… if he could fast for one more day…

"Hishashiburi da ne?" Sho turned his head to the side to regard his maker. He was smiling, exposing the pearled whiteness of his teeth: a contrast to the rest of his face.

Kei made a non-committal hum as a reply, for 'yes, it has been a long time. Nearly a year, and you decide to turn up like _this_' might not have gone so well. He turned away to avoid that gaze, one that might infect him further.

"Genki desu?"

Why Sho was being so talkative confused Kei to no end; usually he came, got what he wanted to calm down, then left before the sun rose the following morning. Some times he came back that night; all the others, Kei walked around for months waiting. He gave a simple nod of his head, wetting his lips with a parched tongue and turned to his younger companion. Just like when Sho was a child and came in covered in dirt of other grime from the streets, Kei subconsciously reached out to strip him of his ruined clothes.

"You look terrible."

To that, he had to bite his bottom lip. Whether or not it was intended, Sho caught onto the irony. A slight smile graced the lips before him, spreading to those blue eyes and making them glittering stars of a madman in the ochre light. He stirred as Kei's fingers worked away, pulling at zipper and buttons, frowning as a few times whole cuts of fabric just tore off like tissue in his hands.

"When was the last time you fed?" He reached up with long, soiled fingers to lift Kei's face, watching as the man tried to recoil from the touch. He was as angered as he was offended by the action, but the quiet voice of sense in his head reminded him Kei was repulsed by the blood; he always had been, not him.

"A while," Kei replied in a whisper. It was taking all of his self-control to stop devouring the feast before him. "Nearly 5 days." The fool in him thought that might be the end of it, and that Sho would understand because he never understood as a teenager until it was explained to him to vividly - he had wept. Instead, the brunette's hand tightened around his chin, pulling him up, up to eyelevel. No words were exchanged, much to Kei's surprise, and he spent the moments he was in that position, bent over Sho as he was perched on the very edge of the bed with his eyes flicking back and forth between the tempting azure and crimson lips beneath him. From this distance, the younger's breath was so enticing he could just… the natural scent of spice was there, which was addictive enough as it was, but paired with the blood… No matter how filthy it may have been, Kei was still so thirsty.

So he lowered his head the final inches, slowly at first, until his lips lightly brushed Sho's. Then he let go of everything. All the lonely nights; all the times Hana asked if her parents were up in heaven and all the memories and regrets that burdened him came out in that single meeting of mouth, teeth and tongue.

Inside that mouth, the tastes were so strong; he kept on delving deeper and deeper and Sho did nothing but let him. In fact, he was smiling despite his eyes telling of his reformed disposition, but when sense finally managed to grasp Kei's undivided attention, regardless of how much he enjoyed kissing Sho and he pulled back, the beam wasn't feral or dangerous in anyway. If anything, it was giddy. Kei missed these expressions – ones of Sho's far from ideal but happy childhood. He raised his fingers to trace the lines of Sho's slightly swollen but clean lips. As a response to this, Sho's hands once more went to move his lover, insinuating that the space between his legs was a serious problem that needed filling immediately, with a few meaningful tugs on his printed shirt.

"Chotto matte." Kei had to smile; he had to make a sound of chiding. "Your daughter is sleeping down the hallway."

Sho looked far from reproachful, just like he never did when he was 15 and had to be reminded that Shinji and Toshi were asleep in the next room. "She sleeps deeply," was all he was going to say until Kei's expression demanded a further explanation. "I can never leave without seeing her… wishing her goodnight."

Despite everything… everything Sho did was for Hana, protecting her from his swings into debauched, blood soaked insanity, and as much as it didn't show, he was protecting Kei from it too. And no matter what the latter said, how much he begged Sho to at least let him take care of him - like he always had and promised to always keep doing - Sho would keep on doing so. Kei leant down and planted a few more soft kisses to the brunette's face.

"Nothing's going to happen tonight if you're covered in gore… Go take a shower."

Sho grinned again and allowed for Kei's hands to grab his bare shoulders and pull him into a sitting position, then push him to his feet. "Should I prep myself whilst I'm at it?"

Kei stifled a chuckle, watching as Sho wandered off to another door leading to the small ensuite. Seeing him still wearing the black leather trousers that Kei had told him how much he loved the way he looked in them all those years ago changed his mood again.

"Todomaru…"


End file.
